Prajapati murder: CBI questions BJP gen secy

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned BJP’s general secretary Ram Lal amid allegations that he and a few others had met in 2012 to discuss ways to weaken the agency’s case against former Gujarat state home minister Amit Shah in the December 2006 Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter case.

Lal was grilled for two hours, said a CBI source. The agency had earlier questioned BJP’s Rajya Sabha members Prakash Javadekar and Bhupendra Yadav in connection with the probe. The probe began in the wake of a sting-operation done by a journalist that allegedly caught a few BJP leaders on camera eight times during the period between July-November, 2012.

It was alleged that those who attended the meeting had discussed ways to influence the court statement of the mother of Prajapati, Narmada Bai, to weaken the case against Shah. Narmada had filed a case alleging her son was killed in a fake encounter.

Last September, the CBI had chargesheeted Shah and 19 others as accused in the case. Prajapati was allegedly killed as he was a key witness to the abduction and murder of his associate Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his wife Kausar Bi in November 2005 in the state.